Autologous chondrocyte transplantation of the ankle Lars Petersen, MD, PhD a, * , Mats Brittberg, MD, PhD b , Anders Lindahl, MD, PhD c a Department of Orthopaedics, Gothenburg Medical Center, University of Gothenburg, Gruvgatan 6, Va ¨stra Fro ¨lunda S-421 30, Sweden b Department of Orthopaedics, Kungsbacka Hospital, Kungsbacka S-434 40, Sweden c Department of Clinical Chemistry, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg S-413 45, Sweden Cartilage and osteochondral lesions of the ankle are often results of a trauma and can cause great problems for the patient. New clinical techniques have made it possible to diagnose and treat these injuries at an early stage and stop the deterioration that would otherwise likely occur. It is possible to detect early stage osteochondritis dissecans of the talus with MRI when the fragment is still in situ and not fragmented. Ankle arthroscopy is a useful tool for diagnosing intra- articular changes [1 – 4]. These lesions can be arthroscopically drilled or pinned with a successful result in patients with open epiphyses [1,2,5]; however, if the lesions are not diagnosed and treated early, this may lead to greater destruction of the lesion and thus present a clinical dilemma. A few different treatments have been proposed, such as debridement with drilling, microfracturing or bone grafting, osteochondral allo- and autografting (mosaic plasty), and autologous chondrocyte transplantation (ACT) [3,5]. A gold standard technique has not yet been established; the number of patients treated with these techniques is still too small, the time of follow-up is too short, or the results have not all been promising. At our clinic we prefer to use ACT. Our experience with ACT in the knee joint is that the treatment results in a repair tissue of hyaline-like characteristics mechanically, histologically and histochemi- cally that corresponds well with a good and durable clinical outcome [6,7]. 1083-7515/03/$ – see front matter D 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S1083-7515(03)00045-7 * Corresponding author. E-mail address: gmc@swipnet.se (L. Petersen). Foot Ankle Clin N Am 8 (2003) 291 – 303